
Book t E- 5 



Gopyiight)J^_ 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSm 



OUTLINES j^iit 

2223 



American Authors 



IRVING, WHITTIER, COOPER, POE, 

BRYANT, HOLMES, EMERSON, 

LOWELL, HAWTHORNE, 

LONGFELLOW- 



FOR THE USE OF TEACHERS AND STUDENTS OF 
READING AND LITERATURE. 



By frank ELZEY. ' ^ 



First Thousand. If^ 

1896. 
University Herald Press, 

ADA, OHIO. 



ii-^V 



03 ,^l 



COPYRIGHT 18%, 

BY THE AUTHOR. 



PROFESSOR JOHN A. WILCOX, 



CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL, 
Columbus, Ohio, 



WITH GRATEFUL APPRECIATION OF HIS UNFAILING 
KINDNESS AND HELPFULNESS. 



Mm 17»R96 



Preface^ 



The object of this little book of outlines is to present the 
leading- facts about our great American authors in such a man- 
ner as to be easily remembered. It will also be found useful to 
students of literature for reference. 

The outlines are used by the author as the basis of composi- 
tion work. 

In case each pupil cannot be supplied with a copy of this 
book, the teacher should write an "outline" on the blackboard, 
and have each pupil copy it neatly, using- ink. This will be use- 
ful as a writing- exercise. After this, questions and brief talks 
on the topics by the teacher and pupils for a few minutes each 
daj' will, in a short time, fix them in the memory. Before leav- 
ing- an author, be sure to have a written review of the topics. 
Have it done neatly for preservation. Commit, repeat, review. 

The compiler of this little book has other outlines in prepa- 
ration, and would be pleased to receive criticisms and sug-g-es- 
tions. 

Copies of this book will be supplied at a very low rate to 
teachers who would like to place them in the hands of their 
pupils. 

Frank Elzey. 
HiUiards, O,, July q, i8qb. 



Contents* 



Washington Irving 7 

James Fenimork Cooper 11 

W11.1.1AM CU1.1.EN Bryant 13 

Rai.ph WAT.DO Emerson 17 

NathanieI/ Hawthorne 20 

Henry Wadsworth IyONGFEi.i.ow - - - 24 

John Greeni^eaf Whittier 28 

Edgar Ai,i,an Poe 32 

O1.1VER WENDEiyi, Holmes - - - - - 34 

James Russei.1. lyOWEiyi. - - - - - 38 



OUTLINES 

OF 

American Authors. 



Washingfton Irvingf* 

BIRTH: 

Place.— NQVf York City. 

rm^.— April 3, 1783. The year the British evacuated New 

York. 
PARENTS: 

His father was of an old Scotch family. 
His mother was an Eng-lishwoman. 
They were married before coming to this country. 
Of their eleven children, Washington Irving was youngest. 
YOUTH: 

Was a favorite in society. 

Received a common school education. 

Was a dreamer and saunterer. 

Attended various private schools until he was sixteen years 

old. 
Left school at sixteen. 
In school hours he feasted on travels and tales, and hated 

arithmetic. 
In this respect he has had many followers, but they resemble 

him in nothing else. 
Secreted candles to enable him to read transporting voyages 

and travels while in bed. 



S AMERICAN A UTHORS. 

studied law after leaving school, and pursued a systematic 

course of reading of the standard authors. 
His favorite authors were Chaucer, Spencer, and Bunyan. 

PSEUDONYMS: 

"Jonathan Oldstyle." "Geoffrey Crayon." 

HONORS: . . , . 

George IV. gave him a gold medal ($250) for historical emi- 
nence. 
Oxford gave him the degree of h^. D. 1831. 
It also gave him the honorary degree of D. C. L. 

WORKS: 

"Salmagundi." 1807. 

"Knickerbocker's History of New York." 1809. 

"Life of Campbell." 1810. 

"The Sketch-Book." 1819-20. 

"Bracebridge Hall." 1822. "Tales of a Traveler." 1824. 

"The Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus." 1828. 

"The Conquest of Granada." 1829. 

"Voyages of the Companions of Columbus." 1831. 

"The Alhambra." 1832. 

"Abbotsford and Newstead Abbey." 1835. 

"Crayon Miscellany." 1835. "Astoria." 1836. 

"The Adventures of Captain Bonneville." 1837. 

"Life of Goldsmith." 1849. 

"Mahomet and His Successors." 1850. 

"Wolfert's Roost." 1855. 

"The Life of George Washington." (5 vols.) 1855-59. 

OCCUPATIONS: 

Wrote for the newspapers at nineteen. 
Edited the Analectic Magazine in Philadelphia. 1813-14. 
Secretary of the American legation at London. 1829-32. 
United States Minister to Spain during President Tyler's 

administration. 1842-46. 
Historian, biographer, traveler, essayist, and humorist. 



IRVING. 



CRITICISM: 

"The American Goldsmith." 

"The father of American humor." 

Earliest classical writer of pure literature in America. 

"The prince of American letters." 

His works are characterized by clearness, freshness, purity, 
4 humor, elegance, and correctness of expression. 

' "The brightest light in American literature." 

LITERARY HABITS: 

Usually wrote in the forenoon. 

Was subject to moods, but enjoyed writing- intensely. 

Is said to have written one hundred and thirty pages of 
"Bracebridg-e Hall" in ten days. 

"When in Spain, writing the "Life of Columbus," he often 
wrote fourteen hours a day. 
MISCELLANEOUS: 

His private character was pure. 

Refused many high public offices. 

Was fond of music and the theater. 

Author of the phrase, "Almighty Dollar." 

Could not speak in public without embarrassment. 

Was greatly honored and loved by his countrymen. 

Enjoyed the intimate friendship of Walter Scott. 

Washington, for whom he was named, once placed his hand 
on his head and gave him his blessing. 

Made three trips to Europe, staying twenty -three years in all. 

Traveled in England, France, Italy, Switzerland, and Spain. 

Made a tour through our Western States and Territories. 

The business failure of his brothers caused him to write for 
a livelihood. 

Received over $100,000 for the copyright of his books. 

The reading of the "Sketch-Book" caused Dickens to com- 
mence his peculiar literary career. 

After preparing to write the history of Mexico, he kindly 
gave it up to Prescott 



10 AMERICAN AUTHORS. 

"Sunnyside," near Tarrytown, and close to Sleepy Hollow, 
was his home. 

His health was always delicate. Being threatened with con- 
sumption, his brothers sent him to Europe in 1804. The 
captain of the vessel said, "There's a chap who will go 
overboard before we get across." 

"In his family he was gentle, generous, good-humored, affec- 
tionate, self-denying." 

Was never married, his affianced, Matilda Hoffman, having . 
died in her eighteenth year. Her Bible and prayer-book, 
and a braid of hair, were his inseparable companions 
through life. 
DEATH: 

P/ac*;.— "Sunnyside," Irvington, New York. 

Time. — November 28, 1859. The same year died Prescott, the 
historian, and Macaulay. 

^^^.— Seventy-six. 



di 



James Fenimore Cooper* 

BIRTH: 

P/fl-r^".— Burling-toii, New Jersey. 
' Time. — September 15, 1789. The j'ear of the adoption of the 

Constitution. 
YOUTH AND EDUCATION: 

Spent his boj'hood at Cooperstown, New York, a village 

founded by his father in 1786. 
Entered Yale College at thirteen — the young-est student. 
A foolish frolic caused his suspension in the fourth year. 
Left school at sixteen. 

Entered the navy in which he served six years. 1805-11. 
Was commissioned midshipman, and. rose to the rank of 

lieutenant. 
Left the navy and married Miss De Lancey. 1811. 
OCCUPATIONS AND RESIDENCES: 

Lived at Cooperstown and Westchester in comparative idle- 
ness for a while after his marriag-e. 
At thirty he had written nothing. 
After reading- an English novel, he remarked to his wife, "I 

believe I could write a better story myself." 
Accordingly, in 1820, the year in which Irving finished the 
"Sketch Book" and Walter Scott finished his "Ivanhoe," 

Cooper published his first novel. 
Wrote one each year after this. 

Spent seven years in Europe with his family. 1826-33. 
On his return, he resided at "Otsego Hall," at Cooperstown, 

but spent much time in New York and Philadelphia. 
Wrote thirty-three novels. 
Was almost constantlj' in libel suits and discussions with 

newspapers,;writers and critics. 



12 AMERICAN AUTHORS, 

Wrote many works designed to cure his countrymen of some , 

of their alleged bad habits. 
These brought forth humorous and satirical criticisms. 

WORKS: 

"The Pioneers," 11822, "The Last of the Mohicans," 1826, 
"The Prairie," 1827, "The Pathfinder," 1840, and "The 
Deerslayer," 1841, are known as the Leatherstocking Series. 

Othernovels are: "Precaution," 1820, "The Spy," 1821, "The 
Pilot," 1823, "The Red Rover," 1827, "Lionel Lincoln," 
"Homeward Bound," "Home as Found," "Mercedes of 
Castile," "The Red Skins," "The Chainbearer," "Satans- 
toe," "The Crater," "The Two Admirals," "Wing and 
Wing," "Wyandotte," "Afloat and Ashore," "Wept of 
Wishton-Wish," "The Water- Witch," "The Bravo," 
"The Heidenmauer," "The Headsman," "The Monikins," 
"Miles Wallingford," "Jack Tier," "The Sea Lions," 
"Oak Openings," "The Ways of the Hour" and "Deer- 
foot." 

"The Ways of the Hour," a criticism of the method of trial 
by jury, was his last story. 

His other works are: "A History of the American Navy," 
1839, of rare interest and true literary excellence; "Lives 
of Naval Commanders." 

He wrote a few other works of minor importance, including 
ten volumes of European travel. 

CRITICISMS: 

"Our first famous novelist." 
His novels are pioneer tales and sea stories. 
Is noted as a naval historian. 
His literary training was inadequate. 
His vocabulary is limited and his style defective. 
Possessed great descriptive power. 
Was called "The American Walter Scott." 
"The people's novelist," as opposed to the novelists of highly 
cultivated readers. 



Won high praise from Victor Hugo, Bryant, and Prescott. 
His works have been translated into every civilized language. 
Is noted for his pictures of the sea, sea life, and wild Indian 

scenery and manners. 
"The second writer who was to show to the world that we 

were to have a literature of our own." 
LITERARY HABITS: 

Did his writing in the early part of the day, and with great 

rapidity. 
Was a great walker, and thought out many of his works 

while thus engaged. 
DEATH: 

/'/ac^.— Cooperstown, Otsego County, New York. 
T/me. — September 14, 1851, lacking one day of sixty-two. 



WilUam CuUen Bryant. 

BIRTH: 

Place. — Cummington, Massachusetts. 

Tm^.— November 3, 1794. 
PARENTS: 

His father, Peter Bryant, was a physician, held in high es- 
teem, both for his professional skill and for his superior 
learning and culture. 

His mother, Sarah Snell Bryant, traced the line of her an- 
cestry back to John Alden and Priscilla Mullins, celebrat- 
ed in Longfellow's poem. 
CHILDHOOD: 

Learned his alphabet whjen he was only sixteen months old. 

At four years old he was at school. 

He was writing verses at eight. 

He made translations of the Latin poets at the age of ten. 



14 AMERICAN AUTHORS. 

Was a very delicate child, but after reachinfr his sixteenth 
year he became strong- and vigorous. 
EDUCATION: 

Read and studied diligently. 

Studied I,atin with his uncle, at North Brookfield, for eight 
months. 

Afterward, attended Parson Hallock's preparatory school 
at Plainfield, Massachusetts. 

Williams College for two years. (Garfield attended this col- 
lege.) 

Taught himself several languages. 

Was well versed in both ancient and modern languages. 

His father, a physician and writer of humorous and satirical 
verse, taught him to write correct English, and to omit, 
in his poems and compositions, unnece-sary words. 
RESIDENCES: 

Cummington, Massachusetts. . 

Great Barrington, Massachusetts. 

New York City. Roslyn, Long Island. 

Made six trips to Europe. 

Visited Egypt and Syria. 
TITLES: 

"First Great American Poet." 

"Father of Our Song." 

"The Poet of the Woods." 

"The Poet of Nature." 

"The American Wordsworth." 
OCCUPATIONS: 

Poet, lawyer, journalist and orator. 

Edited The United States Review in New York. 1826-28. \ 

Correspondent and traveler. 

Made many memorial addresses. 

Edited New York Evening Post for about fifty years. 
MARRIAGE: 

7>V«^.— 1821. Napoleon Bonaparte died the same year. 



BRYANT. 15 

Wife.—Wi&s, Frances Fairchild. She died in June, 1866. 
Children.— Tvfo daughters. 

HONORS: 

Enrolled as one of the Alumni of Williams Colleg-e. 
Seventieth birthday was celebrated by the Century club. 
Received "Bryant Vase" on eig-hiieth birthday. 
He never sought public office and repeatedly refused to hold it. 

CRITICISM: 

Was a precise and pitiless critic. 

Nearlj' two-thirds of his poems are of Nature in some of her 
various forms. 

Was a very slow and painstaking writer. 

His poetry is intensely and distinctively American. 

"Of all exa.mples of literary precocity, Bryant is the most re- 
markable." 

In poetical kinship among English poets, he stands nearest 
to Wordsworth and Shelly. 

Has been called "The American Wordsworth," though in 
purity of diction, and dignitv and elegance of style, he 
is very much superior to his English compeer. 

HABITS: 

Very temperate. Was never sick. Walked many miles a 
day in all kinds of weather. 

Used little animal food, and drank nothing but water. 

Spent one hour everj' day in bathing and gymnastic ex- 
ercises. 

Studied the laws of health to ward off consnmption, of which 
his father died. He said, "I never-meddle with tobacco, 
except to quarrel with its use." 

WORKS: 

Wrote one hundred and seventy-one original poems. 
Newspaper editorials. 

Prose. — "Letters of a Traveler," 1852. Letters from tl^e 
East," 1869, "Orations and Addresses," 1873, 



i6 AMERICAN AUTHORS, 

Poeiry.— ''The Embargo,"1808. 

Poems. Including- "Thanatopsis," 1811, "The Yellow Violet," 
1814, '-To a Waterfowl," 1815, "Inscription for the En- 
trance to a Wood," 1815, "Green River," "A Winter Piece," 
and "The West Wind" in 1819 and 1820, "The Ages," 1821. 
These poems, eight in number, comprised his first volume 
of serious poetry, and were published in'1821. 

Poems. About ninety poems appeared in this volume, includ- 
ing "The Death of the Flowers," "The African Chief," 
"To the Fringed Gentian," and "A Forest Hymn." 

"The Fountain and Other Poems," 1842. 

"The White Footed Deer and Other Poems," 1844. 

"Thirty Poems. Including 'Sella' and The L,ittle People of 
the Snow." 1864. 

Complete Illustrated Edition of Poems." 1876. The "Ode to 
Washington" was his last poem. 

Edited "Library of Poetry and Song," "Picturesque Ameri- 
ca," 2 vols., and "A School History of the United States." 
4 vols. 

Translated the "Iliad" and the "Odyssey," and gave them to 
us in 1870 and 1871. 
DEATH: 

Time.— June 12, 1878, at eighty-four. 

Catise.— Was strickm with heat while making an address, 
bare-headed, at the unveiling of a statue to Mazzini, at 
Central Park. 

Was buried at Roslyn, beside his wife. 

I<ongfellow and Holmes were among those present at the 
funeral. 



^ 



Ralph Waldo Emerson* 

BIRTH: 

r/;«^.— May 25, 1803. 

Place.— Boston, Massachusetts. 
EDUCATION: 

Attended the Boston Grammar School. 

Fitted for colleg-e in the Boston Latin School. 

Entered Harvard at fourteen. 

Graduated from Harvard at eighteen. 1821. 

Was not distinguished as a student. 

Disliked mathematics and the sciences. 

Loved literature and the languages. 

Won prizes for declamation, and excelled in composition. 

Noted as a frequenter of the library. 

Noted for his knowledge of general literature. 

Was poet of his class on "class-day." 
RESIDENCE: 

After 1832, he resided in Concord. 

His home was, for a time, in the "Old Manse"; afterward, 
near the "Wayside." 

His neighbors were Hawthorne, Alcott, and Thoreau, 
WORKS: 

"Nature," Addresses and Lectures. 1836, 

"Essays" (first series). 1841. 

"Essays" (second series). 1844. 

"Poems." 1847. "Miscellanies." 1849. 

"Representative Men." 1850. 

"English Traits." 1856. 

"The Conduct of Life." 1860. 

"Letters and Social Aims." 1876. 

"Fortune of the Republic" 1878, 



i8 AMERICAN A UTHORS. 



"Correspondence of Thomas Carlyle and R. W. Emerson." 

1883. 
Miscellanies, I^ectures, and Biographical Sketches. 
Edited the works and letters of other writers. 

lyECTURES AND ORATIONS: 

"English Literature," "Philosophy of History," "Human 
Culture," "Human Life," "The Present Age," "Man 
Thinking," and "Literary Ethics." 

MARRIAGE: 

Married Miss Ellen Louisa Tucker. September, 1829. 

She died in 1831. 

Married Miss Lydia Jackson. September 14, 1835. 

A daughter survives him. 
FAMOUS POEMS: 

"The Mountain and the Squirrel," "The Sphinx," "Each 
and All," "The Daj's," "The Snowstorm," "May-da3%" 
"Wood-notes," "The Problem," "The Humblebce," "The 
Chickadee," "The Rhodora." 

"The Concord Hymn," his first famous verses, he read April 
19, 1836, at the anniversary of the battle of Lexington. 
OCCUPATIONS: 

Taught school in Boston five j'ears. 1821-26. 

Studied divinity, and was licensed to preach in 1826. 

Pastor of the Second Unitarian Church, Boston. 1829-32. 

Quit preaching because he did not believe in a formal com- 
munion service. 

Lectured and wrote in prose and poetry during the remainder 
of his life. 

Made three trips to Europe. 
CHARACTER AND CRITICISM: 

"America's Greatest Philosopher." 

"The Sage of Concord." 

Philosopher, essayist, lecturer, poet, guide, thinker. 

Chief exponent of transcendentalism. 



EMERSON. ig 

Chief contributor of The Dial during its four years' existence. 

He, with Riplej', Parker, Channing-, and Marg-aret Fuller, 
thought to do g-reat things through this transcendental 
paper. 

Was a member of the "Brook Farm" community. 

His aim was to be a teacher of his fellow-men. 

His thinking charms, animates and vividly excites the mental 
facultj' of his reader, but it does not satisfy', or settle any 
question conclusively. 

Delights in proverbs, apt quotations, aphorisms, and epi- 
grams. 

He is the friend and adviser of those who would live in the 
Spirit. 

"The propounder of philosophy." 

His prose is better than his poetry. 

Much of his poetry is rough in diction and cloudy in meaning. 

In style, he resembles his great friend, Carlyle. 
MISCELIvANEOUS: 

From 1840 to 1860 is called the Emersonian Era. 

Emerson is considered an "enigma." 

His name is more familiar to Americans than his writings. 

Was an abolitionist, and a believer of woman's rights. 

Harvard gave him the degree LL. D. 1866. 
LITERARY HABITS: 

The most unsystematic of writers. 

Would jot down in his note-book his thoughts as they oc- 
curred. 

When he 'wished to write an essay, he would sort out such 
paragraphs as he needed. Consequently, there is a lack 
of connection in his paragraphs. 
DEATH: 

April 27, 1882, at Concord. 



Nathaniel Hawthorne* 

BIRTH: 

Place. — Salem, Massachusetts. 

Time.—Zxdy 4, 1804. 
PARENTS: 

His father, who was a ship-master, died when Nathaniel was 
four years old. 

After this, his mother lived in absolute seclusion for thirty- 
years, taking- her meals alone. 
YOUTH: 

Was a quiet boy, who would rather skate by moonlight, on a 
lonely pond, than be with a merry party of 5-oung- people. 

At nine, he was struck on the foot by a ball, and made lame 
for three years. 

While lame, he acquired a reading habit, and read Bunyan, 
Milton, Pope, Shakespeare, and all of Scott's works. 

At sixteen, issued a mimic newspaper. 

Dr. Worcester, the lexicographer, was his private teacher for 
many years. 

Was tall, strong, and fond of out-door sports. 

He once wrote to his mother that he did not want to be a 
doctor, to live by men's diseases; or a minister, to live by 
their sins; or a lawyer, to live by their quarrels; "so 
there is nothing left for me but to be an author." 
EDUCATION: 

Excelled in composition writing. 

Graduated from Bowdoin College in 1825. 

In the same class with I^ongfellow and John S. C. Abbott. 

His intimate friends in college were Franklin Pierce and 
Horatio Bridge, who were in the class above. 

Spent a year with his uncle in Maine. 



HAWTHORNE. 2t 

MARRIAGE: 

Time.—\m%. 

FF(/<?.~Miss Sophia Peabody, of Salem. 

Children.— ^orv^ Julian, now an author of note; daughters, two. 

RESIDENCES: 

Resided at Salem for many years after graduation. 

Was connected with the Brook Farm Fraternity, at West 

Roxbury. 1841-42. 
Lived in the "Old Mans " and "The Wayside." 
Lived in Boston, Lenox, and Liverpool. 
Retired to Concord in 1843. 
Traveled three years in England, France, and Italy. 

OCCUPATIONS: 

Romancer, and public servant [Democrat]. 

^di'not oi. \.\iQ. American Magazine of Universal Knozvledge. 1836. 

Weigher and ganger in the Boston Custom House. 1838-41. 

Surveyor of the port of Salem. 1846-50. Appointed by Pres- 
ident I'olk. 

George Bancroft, the historian, secured him these offices. 

United States Consul at Liverpool. 1853-57. Appointed by 
President Pierce. 

HABITS: 

Waited for a mood before writing. 

Destroyed many of his earlier writings. 

Walked out late at night after writing all day. 

The shyest of men; loved to be alone. 

Lived a solitary life of meditation and study. 

Inherited a morbid disposition from his mother. 

The thought of making a call would keep him awake in bed. 

He would go to a dinner party, and sit through the whole 

evening without saying a word. 
MISCELLANEOUS: 

Some of his Concord neighbors and associates were Emerson, 

Thoreau, Channing, EHery, and Fuller. 



^i AMERICAN AUTHORS. 

James Russell Lowell has called him the greatest imagina- 
tive writer since Shakespeare. 

Changed the spelling of the family name, Hatherne. 

"The Marble Faun" was published in England under the 
title "Transformation." 

His "Note-Books" were edited by his widow and daughters. 

He was found dead in bed. 

WORKS: 

"Fanshawe." 1828. "Twice-Told Lales." 1837-42. 
"Mosses from an Old Manse." 1846. 
"The Scarlet Letter." 1850. 
"The House of the Seven Gables." 1851. 
"Grandfather's Chair." 1851. 
"The Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys." 1851. 
"True Stories from History and Biography." 1851. 
"The'Snow-Image and other Trice-Told Tales." 1852. 
"The Blithedale Romance." 1852. 
"Life of Franklin Pierce." 1852. 
"Tanglewood Tales." 1853. 

"The Marble Faun." A romance of Italy. 1860. 
-Our Old Home. A Series of English Sketches." 1863. 
"The DoUiver Romance." Posthumous. 1864. 
American. English, French, and Italian Note-Books. Post- 
humous. 1868-72. 
"Septimus Felton; or The Elixir of Life." Posthumous. 1872. 
"Thu Ancestral Footstep," Posthumous. 
"Dr. Grimshaw's Secret." Posthumous. 1878. 

CRITICISM: 

Hawthorne called his works "romances." 

A master of the purest English, and the greatest American 

prose writer and novelist, but not the most popular. 
"Literary aj-tisty 
His writings are marked by subtle imagination, curious 

power of analysis, and exquisite purity of diction. 
Analyzed and developed the weird and the mysterious. 



HA WTHORNE. 23 

Wrote eighteen years before he gained recognition. 

Took the leisure and infinite labor to correct, polish, and 
repolish. 
DEATH: 

Place. — Plymouth, New Hampshire. 

Time.— M3.y 19, 1864. 

Age. — Sixty. 
FUNERAL: 

Place.— Concord, Massachusetts. 

Time.-May 23, 1864. 

"The Dolliver Romance," an unfinished manuscript, now in 
the Concord Public Library, lay upon the coffin during 
the services. 

At these services were present James Russell Lowell, Oliver 
Wendell Holmes, James Thomas Fields, Louis Agassiz, 
Horatio Bridge, Franklin Pierce, John Greenleaf Whit- 
tier, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and Ralph Waldo 
Emerson. 

Was buried in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, Concord. 



^ 



Henry Wadsworth Long^fellow^ 

BIRTH: 

r/V/^.— February 37, 1807. The same year with Whittier. 

P/rtc^.— Portland, Maine. 
PARENTS: 

His father, Hon. Stephen Longfellow, was a man of note in 
law and politics, being' one of the early members of the U. 
S. House of Representatives. 

His mother, though an invalid for years, never lost her 
cheeriness. 
YOUTH AND EDUCATION: 

At three, he started to school. 

At six, he composed his first letter. 

Was half way through his Latin grammar, at seven. 

In his boyhood home there was a good library to which he 
had free access. 

Entered Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine, at fourteen. 

Was a classmate with Hawthorne and Abbott. 

Graduated from Bowdoin at eighteen. Ranked second in a 
class of thirty-seven. A dozen of these won national re- 
nown. 

Spent a few months in law studies. 

Studied in France, Spain, Germany, and Italy. 1826-29. 

Spent nearly two years abroad, traveling in Germany, and 
Switzerland, in Holland and Belgium, and in Sweden and 
Denmark, studying the languages of those countries. 
1835-36. 

Traveled in Europe in 1868-69. 

Was a very hard student. 
OCCUPATIONS: 

Teacher, poet, and translator, 



LONGFELLOW. 25 

Professor of Modern Languag-es at Bowdoin Colleg-e. 1829 

-35. 
Professor of Modern I^ang-uag-es at Harvard College. 1836. 

Held this position seventeen years. 
Was succeeded by James Russell Lowell. 
Was preceded by his eminent friend, Prof. George Ticknor. 

MARRIAGE: 

Married Miss Mary Storer Potter, of Portland, Maine. 1831. 
She died at Rotterdam in November, 1835. 
Married Miss Frances E. Appleton, of Boston. 1843, 
She was burned to death. 1861. 

Children.— Two sons, Charles and Ernest. Three daughters, 
Alice, Edith, and Annie. 

HONORS: 

Cambridge, England, gave him the degree of L/L. D. 1868. 

Oxford, that of D. C. L. 1869. 

On his seventy-second birthday the school children of Cam- 
bridge presented him with a chair made from the old 
horse-chestnut tree that stood by the "village srnithy" 
(Dexter Pratt), in his poem of "The Village Blacksmith." 

I/Ongfellow's seventy-fifth birthday was celebrated by the 
school children all over the United Stales. 

A monument has been erected to his memory in the Poets' 
Corner of Westminster Abbey. 

PROSE WORK: 

"Driftwood," From the French. 1833. 
"Outre-Mer; a Pilgrimage Beyond the Sea." 1835. 
"Hyperion." A Romance. 1839. 
"Kavanagh." A Love Story. 1849. 

FAMOUS SHORT POEMS: 

"The Building of the Ship," "The Children's Hour," "The 
Ladder of St. Augustine," "The Psalm of Life," "The 
Bridge," "The Reaper and the Flowers," "The Village 
Blftcksniitlt" and "Resignation," 



26 AMERICAN AUTHORS. 

POETICAL WORKS: 

"Voices of the Nigflit." 1839. 
"Ballads and Other Poems." 1841. 
"Poems on Slavery." 1842. 
"The Spanish Student." 1843. 
"The Belfry of Bruges." 1845. 

"Evangeline." 1847. "Sea-side and Fire-side." 1849. 
"The Golden Legend." 1851. "The Song of Hiawatha." 1855. 
"Courtship of Miles Standish." 1858. 
"Tales of a Wayside Inn." 1863. 
"Flovver-de-Luce." 1866. 

"New England Tragedies." 1868. "Christus." 1872. 
"Three Books of Song." 1872. 
"Aftermath." 1874. "Ultima Thule." 1880. 
"Keramos." 1877. "The Masque of Pandora." 1875, 
"In the Harbor" and "Michael Angelo." Posthumous. 
Edited "Poets and Poetry of Europe." 1845. 
Edited "Poems of Places." 31 vols. 1876-79. 
Translated Dante's "Divine Comedy," 1865-67, and "The Di- 
vine Comedy," 1872. 

CRITICISM: 

"The poet of sentiment." 

The most popular American poet. 

He puts our best thoughts in the best language. 

His writings are all grace, polish and sweetness. 

Every sentence is as clear as crj-stal and as pure as snow. 
MISCELLANEOUS: 

Wrote his first poem at ten. 

At thirteen, "The Battle of Lovell's Pond," his first printed 
poem came out in the Portland Gazette. 

Made careful preparation for every undertaking. 

Wrote for The North America?i Review and The Atlaiitic Monthly. 

Wrote "Hj'perion" to win his second wife. She was made the 
heroine. 

His works have been tr^nslf(,ted into niany languages. 



Longfellow, 27 

Has given us the best translations from Spanish, Swedish 
and Italian authors. 

Was very fond of children. 

In England his popularity rivals that of the best modern 
English poets. 

Resided at Cambridge, Massachusetts, for more than forty 
years. 

Lived in the old "Craigie House," which had been Washing- 
ton's headquarters in the Revolution. Edward Everett, 
Jared Sparks, and Joseph E. Worchester had roomed in 
this house. 

Upon the walls of his study hung crayon likenesses of Emer- 
son, Sumner and Hawthorne. 
DEATH: 

/'/rtct'.— Cambridge, Massachusetts. 

ymt'.— March 24, 1882, at the age of seventy-five. Was buried 
in Mount Auburn Cemetery. 



^ 



John Greenleaf Whittier. 

BIRTH: 

P/a«.— Near Haverhill, Massachusetts. 

Tm^.— December 17, 1807. 

Had Quaker parents in Puritan surroundings. 
YOUTH: 

A New England farm boy. 

Had few books or papers to read. 

A copy of Burns awakened his poetical genius. 

Nature was to him a continual poem. 

Went to the village school in the winter months. 

Began life as a farm-hand and shoemaker. 

Taught the district school at West Amesbury. 1827-28. 

Attended the academy at Haverhill for two years. 

Sent poems to the papers occasionally. 

Went to Boston to study and read. 1828-29. 

Here he did his first editorial work for the American Mamifac- 
turer, a paper established at Boston to advocate a protect- 
ive tariff. 1829-30. 
TITLES: 

"The Quaker Poet." 

"The Bachelor Poet." 

"The Laureate of the Abolitionists." 

"The Hebrew Poet." 

"The Prophet Bard." 

"The Poet of New England." 

The last name is the otie name most descriptive of him. 
RESIDENCES: 

Resided at Amesbury, Massachusetts, from 1840 to 1876. 

His home was, for many years, in charge of his maiden 
sister, Elizabeth, a woman of lovely character. 



WHITTIER. 2g 

After 1876 he resided for the greater part of the time with 
relatives at "Oak Knoll," at Danvers, Massachusetts. 

OCCUPATIONS: 

Poet, editor, and reformer. 

Edited the N'ew England Weekly Revierv, at Hartford, Connec- 
ticut. 1830. 

Spent the next five or six years on the farm. 

Secretary of the A merican Anti-Slavery Society. 1833. 

Was a member of the Massachusetts Legislature for two 
years. 1835—36. 

Edited the Pennsylvania Freemaji in Philadelphia. 1836. 

His office was afterward sacked and burned by a mob. 

Wrote much against slavery. 

Ranks with Garrison, Phillips, and Mrs. Stowe, who dared to 
"beard the lion in his den." 

Corresponding editor of the Art/Zowa/J^rrt of Washington, D. 
C. 1847—59. 

Served twice as a Presidential elector. 
PROSE WORKS: 

"Legends of New England." (Prose and Verse.) 1831. 

"The Stranger in Lowell." 1845. 

"Supernaturalism in New England." 1847. 

"Leaves from Margaret Smith's Journal." 1849. 

"Old Portraits and Modern Sketches." 1850. 

•'Literary Recreations and Miscellanies." 1854. 
POETICAL WORKS: 

"Moll Pitcher." 1832. 

"Mogg Megone." 1836. 

"Lays of My Home." 1843. 

"The Bridal of Pennacook." 1848. 

"The Voices of Freedom." 1849. 

"Songs of Labor." 1850. 

"The Chapel of the Hermits." 1853. 

"A Sabbath Scene." 1854. 

"The Panorama." 1856. 



JO A MERICAN A UTHORS, 

"Home Ballads." 1860. 

"In War Time." 

"Snow Bound." 1866. 

"The Tent on the Beach.'' 1867. 

"Among- the Hills." 1868. 

"Miriam." 1870. 

"The Pennsylvania Pilgrim." 1872. 

"Mabel Martin." 1874. 

"The Vision of Echard." 1878. 

"The King-'s Missive." 1881. 

WORKS EDITED BY WHITTIER: 

"The Literary Remains of J. G. C. Brainerd." 1832. 
"Views of Slavery and Emancipation, by Harriet Martineau." 

1837. 
"Letters from John Quincy Adams to his Constituents." 

1837. 
"Child-Life: A Collection of Poems." 1871. 
"The Journal of John Woolnian." 1873. 
"Child-Life in Prose." 1873. 
"Songs of Three Centuries." 1875. 

"Hazel Blossoms. Poems by Elizabeth Whittier." 1875. 
"Letters of Lydia Maria Child." 1882. 
The "Riverside Edition" of his writings in seven volumes 

appeared under his supervision in 1888. 

MOST POPULAR POEMS: 

"Barefooted Boy," "My Psalm," "Cobbler Keezar's Vision," 
"In School Days," "Barbara Frietchie," "Maud Muller," 
the finest of his shorter poems. 

"Maud Muller" tells the story of a universal experience. 

Of all his poems, "Snow-Bound" is undoubtedly the loveliest 
and best. It was written after two persons whom he 
dearly loved had passed away— his mother and sister. It 
is in one sense a memorial of them, and as he could not 
disassociate the two from his old home, he laid the scene 
there, and introduced a number of acquaintances of by- 



WHITTIBR, 3t 

g-one days. 

"The Tent on the Beach" is a description of Salisbury Beach. 
At the time it was written the beach was quite destitute of 
houses, and being there with his friends, Bayard Taylor 
and James T. Fields, a tent was pitched on the sands, and 
he is supposed to be reading- the poem to them. 
CRITICISM: 

"The American lyrist." "The poet of humanity." 

His writings are characterized by earnestness of tone, high 
moral purpose, and energy of expression. 

He lacks Longfellow's wide and elegant culture, but sur- 
passes him in real poetic genius, and ranks next to him in 
popularity. 

He declared that he was not in the habit of rewriting and 
polishing, but that, with the warmth he enjoyed when 
his inspiration was on him, he threw off a poem just as he 
could at the time, and so gave it to the world. 
MISCELLANEOUS: 

"The Exile's Departure," published June 1, 1826, was his first 
poem. 

The Alantic Monthly gave a dinner in honor of his seventieth 
birthday, December 17, 1877. All the leading writers were 
there. 

Harvard University gave him the degree of LL. D. 1886. 

Honors were again heaped upon him on his eightieth birth- 
day. 

Each birthday of his latter years was an ovation. 

His last poem was a birthday offering to Oliver Wendell 
Holmes. 

Was never married. 
DEATH: 

Place. — Hampton Falls, New Hampshire. 

y/;//^.— September 7, 1892. 

yl^^.— Eighty-five. 



Edgar Allan Poe. 

BIRTH: 

Place.— Boston, Massachusetts. 

Time.— J a.nua.ry 19, 1809. 
PARENTS: 

His mother was an actress of much skill and high character. 

His father was a son of David Poe, a revolutionary patriot of 
Baltimore. 
YOUTH AND EDUCATION: 

He could read, draw and dance at six. 

The first five years of his school life he attended an English 
school. 1815-20. 

The next five years were spent in a private academy in Rich- 
mond. 1820-25. 

He then attended the University of Virginia its first session. 
1826-27. (Founded by Jefferson.) 

Received highest honors in I^atin and French. 
OCCUPATIONS: 

Served a short time as a private in the U. S. army under the 
name of Edgar A. Perry. From June, 1827, to January, 
1829. 

Secured an appointment at West Point. 

Began his literary career by writing "A Manuscript found in 
a Bottle," a prize story which won him one hundred dol- 
lars. 

Wrote for a great number of magazines. 

Author, poet, critic, editor. 
MARRIAGE: 

He married his beautiful cousin, Virginia E. Clemm, May 16, 
1836. 

She was slightly under fourteen. 



POE. J3 



He was twenty -seven. 



WORKS: 

"Tamerlane and Other Poems. By a Bostonian." 1827, 

"Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane, and Minor Poems." 1829. 

"Poems." 1830. 

"Poems." (Second edition.) 1831. 

"Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pyra." 1838. 

"Tales of the Grotesque and the Arabesque." 1840. 

"Murders in the Rue Morgue." (The first detective story 

ever written.) 1841. 
"The Gold Bug." 1843. 
"The Raven and Other Poems." 1845. 
"The Bells." (Originally contained only eighteen lines.) 

1846. 
"Eureka, a Prose Poem." 1848. 
Some of his best Poems are: "The Raven," "The Bells," 

Annabell Lee," "Israfel," "To Helen." 
Some of his best Tales are: "The Gold Bug," "Hans Pfaal," 

"The Black Cat," "The Purloined Letter." 

MISCELLANEOUS: 

The French people like him better than any other American 

author. 
"Wrote sixty tales. 

Poe was the first to write detective stories. 
Wrote forty poems. 
Most original of all our writers. 
Wrote criticisms. 
Had a wonderful imagination. 
Habitually dressed in black. 
Was brilliant in society. 
His writings are read in England, France, Germany, Italy 

and Spain. 
He ardently admired invention and imagination. 
Was one of the first to recognize the genius of Hawthorne. 
Was a musician in verse. 



34 AMERICAN A UTHORS. 

DEATH: 

P/ac^.— Washington Medical College, Baltimore, Maryland. 
jT/w^.— Sunday, October 9, 1849. Only four persons followed 
the body to the grave. 

Oliver "Wendell Holmes. 

BIRTH: 

Place. — Cambridge, Massachusetts. 

r/;«^.— August 29, 1809. 
EDUCATION: 

Cambridge schools and Phillips Academy. 

Graduated from Harvard at twenty. 1829. 

In college he was called "The Poet." 

"Wrote for the Collegian. 

Studied law at Harvard one year, but gave it up for medicine* 

Studied medicine in various European countries. 

Spent much time in the hospitals of Paris and I^ondon. 

Took a degree in the Medical School of Harvard. 1836. 

The first collected edition of his poems was published the 
same year. 
OCCUPATIONS: 

Poet, wit, professor, physician, scientist, biographer, novel- 
ist, and essayist. 

Professor of Anatomy and Physiology in Dartmouth College. 
1839-41. 

Practiced medicine in Boston. 1841-49. 

Professor of Anatomy and Physiology in Harvard Medical 
School. 1847-82. 

Devoted himself exclusively to literature for the next twelve 
years. 

He made the "dry bones rattle, live and laugh." 

Medicine was his profession; literature, his play. 



r' 



HOLMES, 35 

One of the founders of the Atlantic Monthly^ in which most of 

his works first appeared. 
Many of his poems were written for special occasions. 
Read a poem at the 2S0th anniversary of Harvard College, 

Nov. 7, 1886. 

PROSE WORKS: 

Five Serials in Atlantic Monthly. 

"The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table." 1857. 

"The Professor at the Breakfast Table." 1859. 

"The Poet at the Breakfast Table." 1871. 

"The New Portfolio." 1885. 

"Our Hundred Days in Europe." 1887. 
Three Novels: 

"Elsie Venner." 1861. "The Guardian Ang-el." 1867. 

"A Moral Antipathy." 1887. 
Sketches and Essays: 

"Sounding-s from the Atlantic." 1864. 

"Mechanism in Thoughts and Morals." 1871. 

"Currents and Counter Currents." 1861. 

"Border I/ines of Knowledge." 1862. 
Biography: 

"Memoir of John Lothrop Motley." 1878. 

"Life of Ralph Waldo Emerson." 1885, 
POETICAL WORKS: 

"Early Poems." 1830-49. 
"Songs in many Keys." 1849-61. 
"Poems of the Class of '29." 1851-77. 
"Songs of Many Seasons." 1862-1874. 
"The Iron Gate and Other Poems." 1880. 
"Before the Cut few, and Other Poems." 1888. 
FAMOUS POEMS: 

"The Wonderful One-hoss Shay," "The Boys," "My Aunt," 
"Bill and Joe," "Union and Liberty," "Old Ironsides," 
"The Last Leaf," "The Living Temple," "How the Old 
Horse Won the Bet," "Grandmother's Story of Bunker 



36 AMERICAN AUTHORS. 

Hill Battle," "Under the Violets" and "The Chambered 
Nautilus" are a few of his best. 
It is said that he wished to be remembered by "The Cham- 
bered Nautilus" rather than by anything- else. 

MARRIAGE: 

Tm^.— June 15, 1840. 

Wife. — Amelia Lee Jackson. 

Children. — Three: two sons and one daughter. 

RESIDENCES: 

Spent his winters in Boston. 

Williams Dean Howells lives but three doors away. 

His summer home at "Beverly Farms" was beautifully situ- 
ated on the Housatonic River, Pittsfield, Massachusetts. 

After an interval of fifty years, Holmes made his second visit 
to the Old World in 1886. While in England, Cambridg-e 
University gave him an enthusiastic reception, and con- 
ferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Letters. On his 
first visit he was a young medical student, caring mure 
for phj'sics than for poetry. Walter Scott, Coleridge, and 
Lamb were just dead, but Macaulay and Wellington were 
still alive. Victoria was not yet crowned. Carlyle was 
in early youth, George Eliot was a girl of fifteen, and 
Tennyson's first book of poetry had only been out a short 
time. 
MISCELLANEOUS: 

He was born in the "Hastings House" which was the head- 
quarters of Gen. Artemus Ward and of the Committee of 
Safety, just before the Revolution. 

His mother was the daughter of Hon. Oliver Wendell, an em- 
inent lawyer. 

His father was the Rev. Abiel Holmes, a pastor, profes- 
sor and historian. 

In the same class with the Rev. Samuel F. Smith, who 
wrote "My Country, 'Tis of Thee," and Benjamin Pierce, 
the astronomer and mathematician. 



HOLMES. 



37 



Charles Sumner and Wendell Phillips were in colleg-e with 
hini, but in lower classes. 

Read a poem at the commencement dinner at Cambridge, 1879 
on the fiftieth anniversary of his graduation. 

His seventieth birthday occurred on the 29th of August, the 
same year, upon which occasion he was the recipient of 
a host of pleasant mementoes and some most charm- 
ing tributes to his personal and literary worth. 

The favorite American poet at literary anniversaries. 

He has written no long poem. 
CRITICISM: 

"Father of American humor." 

His writings teem with wit, patriotism, pathos, satire, pure 
humor and poetic beauty. 
His wit has no ill-nature in it. 

Wrote for the amusement of himself and his readers. 
DEATH: 

Place. — Boston, Massachusetts. 

7>V«£'.— October 7, 1894, 

^^^.— Eighty-five. 



%^ 



James Russell LowelL 



BIRTH: 

Place.— Ca.mhrid.ge, Massachusetts. 
r/;«<?.— Febuary 32, 1819. (Washington's birthday). 
EDUCATION: 

Graduated at Harvard in 1838. (Class poet.) 

Studied law in Harvard University. 

Admitted to the bar in 1840. 

Studied languages in Europe, principally at Dresden and | 

I^eipsic. 
RESIDENCE: 

"Elmwood," near Mount Auburn Cemetery, in Cambridge, 

was his home. 
Here he was born, and here he lived while in America. 
Many of his best works were suggested by the scenery sur- 
rounding his home. 
He occupied an easy chair, which faced his sunniest windows, 

and wrote upon a stiff piece of paste-board, which rested 

on his knee. 
Here he sat, and when the muse inspired him, planned and 

wrote out good thoughts for his fellow-men. 
OCCUPATIONS: 

Opened a law ofRce in Boston. 

Abandoned law for literary pursuits. 

Delivered a course of lectures on the British poets. 1854-55. 

Professor of Modern Languages and Belles-lettres at Har-j 

vard. 1855-77. 
Edited the Alantic Monthly. 1857-62. 

Associate editor of the North American Revievj. 1863-72. 
Minister to Spain. 1877-80. 



LOWELL. 39 

Minister to Eug-land. 1880-85. 

Poet, critic, diplomat, orator, teaciier, and essayist. 

MARRIAGE: 

Married Maria White, who was also a writer, in 1844. She 

died in 1853. 
Married Frances Dunlap in 1857. She died in 1885. 

CRITICISM: 

"Our best critic." 

Excels in satire and humor, but is often subtle and profound 

"His style is brilliant and forcible." 

"The teachers' poet." 

He lacked the patient toil of the artist who should not only 
file and polish, but if need be recast altogether. 

Worked to hastily for perfection of finish. 
WORKS: 

"A Year's Life." 1841. "A Legend of Brittany." 1844. 

"Conversations on Some of the Old Poets." 1845. 

"Biglow Papers" (first series). On the Mexican War. 1846. 

"The Vision of Sir Launf al." 1847. 

"A Fable for Critics." 1848. 

"Poems." 2 vols. 1849. 

"Biglow Papers" (second series). On Secession. 1861. 

"Fireside Travels." 1864. 

"Under the Willows and Other Poems." 1869. 

"The Cathedral" and "My Study Windows." 1870. 

"Among My Books." 1871. 

"Democracy and Other Addresses." 1887. 

"Nathaniel Hawthorne." [Americaii Men of Letters.) 1888. 

"Heartsease and Rue." 1888. 

"Political Essays." 1888. 

"Latest Literary Essays." 1891. 

"The Old English Dramatists." 1892. 

Four Odes: 

Commemoration Ode, in memory of the Harvard students 



40 



AMERICAN AUTHORS. 



who lost their lives in the War for the Union. July 2 

Centennial of Battle of Concord. April 19 1875 

Under the Old Elm. Centennial celebration of WashinJ 

ton's assuming command of the American Arm. 

July 3, 1876. '" 

Centennial of American Independence, July 4, 1876 

MISCELLANEOUS: 

Made several trips to Europe. 

Wrote ag-ainst slavery and the Mexican War. 

Oxford University conferred on him the de^rree of D. C. I 

Cambridge that of LL. D. 1874. 

Has been accused of loving- England and her institution! 
better than America. 
V Delivered the address at the 250th anniversary of Harvard 
Coileg"e. 
DEATH: 

He died on A.ig-ust 12, 1891, being then seventy-two years old. 



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